Visually impaired people exercise their franchise independently

D.N.I.S. News Network
 In a shining example for all other states to follow, the Election Commission has
set up a separate polling booth for visually impaired people at National
Institute for Visually Handicapped (N.I.V.H.) in the Rajpur
Assembly constituency of Uttarkhand, where they can
cast their vote independently. It is the first one of its kind in the country.

More encouraging is the fact that
visually impaired voters used the facility in the recent polls held in Uttarkhand. For visually impaired PrashanthDabral, a music teacher at N.I.V.H. it was a pleasant
surprise when he was told at the polling booth that he could cast his vote with
the help of Electronic Voting Machine (E.V.M.).

You cannot imagine my joy when I
pressed the button on the E.V.M. I had never exercised franchise without
assistance, he said. The names of candidates and their symbols are inscribed
in Braille on the E.V.M.

The polling booth at the
institute has 383 voters. N. RaviShanker,
Uttarkhand C.E.O. said the separate polling booth was
set up on an experimental basis for the first time in the country.